LAOIS SENIOR FOOTBALL 2016

[BallyroanAbu]

What in gods name is he on about.  Its like someone playing fantasy football. 15 on 15 has long since sailed.  It's laudable he wants to play 15 -15 but christ its dreaming.

[Keyser Söze]

What in gods name is he on about.  Its like someone playing fantasy football. 15 on 15 has long since sailed.  It's laudable he wants to play 15 -15 but christ its dreaming.

It's not in the slightest bit laudable. It's laughable.
We are all entitled to our opinions on how a team should set up......but we are certainly not all entitled to a position as an IC manager.

To paraphrase a famous Tipp putdown; "I don't blame him at all, it's the fellas who gave him the job I blame!"

People here talking about John Sugrue being brought in? Was Sugrue not in contention for the job but didn't get it?!! Hard to know how you ask him in to pick the pieces up in April!

[BallyroanAbu]

I think we should leave Lillis till the end of the season.   I just don't agree with giving anyone the heave mid season and I doubt it would do any good.  To be honest the appointment of TOF was more disappointing than Lillis.  Whatever you say about Lillis he is a volunteer,  but TOF being paid to do it was far worse.  It's been a bad weekend for Laois GAA and maybe it's time for the clubs step up and ask some questions of what the plan is or if there is one.

[OTF]

I think we should leave Lillis till the end of the season.   I just don't agree with giving anyone the heave mid season and I doubt it would do any good.  To be honest the appointment of TOF was more disappointing than Lillis.  Whatever you say about Lillis he is a volunteer,  but TOF being paid to do it was far worse.  It's been a bad weekend for Laois GAA and maybe it's time for the clubs step up and ask some questions of what the plan is or if there is one.

If you recall the appointment of TOF was going to bring us to the next level and in fairness he did bring us back to at least the next level, now the unfortunate  ML has us back at the '91 level.

[High Fielder]

I honestly believe that if Healy, O Leary, McMahon and scully were on that panel, we'd potentially be challenging to go up. You can't get by trying to convert average attacking club players into backs, and our half back line yesterday had 3 of them. Lillis has been exposed, that much is obvious, but there's a huge tsunami of a problem in Laois Gaa, and that is an overall lack of interest. We can blame Lillis for a lot, but when you don't have the best backs in the county available to you, you are already on the back foot. Same story with the hurlers from what I can see. You need your best lads involved. At the start of this thread, lads were spouting shite about this being a strong panel, and blatantly ignoring the amount of decent backs we have. We didn't even have cover for the backs yesterday. We're in a bad way and it could well be the start of dropping down even further. Leinster in general appears to be in a complete mess, Dublin aside. The GAA is becoming very uncompetitive, and the diminishing crowds almost everywhere is proof of that. An amalgamation of Leinster would probably be beaten by Dublin, so what in the name of God are we even trying to do in a county the size of Laois?

[Tony]

I honestly believe that if Healy, O Leary, McMahon and scully were on that panel, we'd potentially be challenging to go up.

You've been on and on about Scully for years now, even in the old forum. Same thing every year. O' Leary and McMahon are retired. Do you want to bring back Tom Kelly as well while you're at it.

Lillis is ridiculously out of his depth. Playing 15 on 15 in 2016 is an absolute joke. Those that think it's McNulty's way or Lillis' way don't know a thing about the game, there is a balance available. It's no co-incidence that we conceded the most in all 4 leagues. Lillis would be fine as an U-12 manager but that's about it. In fairness to him, he didn't appoint himself.

Hard not to be #disillusioned by the state of Laois GAA at the moment. Some fantastic talent but not harnessed to it's potential. Time to change that. We need to become pro active like a Tipperary or Roscommon. The talent is NOT necessarily better in those counties, they are just harnessed in far, far better ways. Why? What we need most is progressive and smart thinking brains in charge of Laois GAA at county board level and at coaching level.

[High Fielder]

Retired prematurely but in fairness that's their choice. They are still better than what's in there and that is my point. A county this small needs its best on the pitch, irrespective of how old they are. We don't have any strength in depth, particularly in the backs.

[From the Terrace]

I felt for probably 4-5 players yesterday who gave there all particularly timmons & attride without would of been beaten a lot earlier.. But to say its all lillis fault is ridiculous. We have a core group of players whos performances yest were poor/sub standard. Our half back & forward lines & midfield were destroyed by a pretty ordinary meath. So to the poster who said our fellas lack character i agree on that performance yest.

[blueandwhite1]

I can't believe that Lillis didn't even seem to be questioning himself and his methods. 'I don't believe in these northern systems', 'defending from deep doesn't suit Laois' - what the hell? Even Kerry and Dublin completely changed how they play football in response to the evolution of the tactical game born in the north. If he believes that we can continue to play 'the way football should be played' then he should be given his P45 now because guess what - it is no longer played that way. He is basically committing to inspiring this team on to try harder and play better with no plan.

[Tony]

The book firmly stops with Lillis, regarding our shambolic performances in the League.

OF COURSE it's the manager's fault. The players do what they're told. And they're told to go out and play football like it's an U-12 match. It's a joke & a reality check is needed.

If you put Lillis in charge of Dublin from the start of 2016, and a manager with a very good tactical brain in charge of Laois from the start of 2016, who would win in the Summer? I'd put my money on Laois to at least go close. THAT is how important a manager is. Imagine Dublin with all of the primitive tactics that Laois have and a manager like Lillis - they would find it hard in Leinster and certainly would not win the all ireland. Imagine them going out 15 vs 15 against a tactically astute team.

It's frustrating. The players deserve way better. They're busting a gut but it's a 1980's system they're playing. Of course they're not thriving in the system. Give them a chance at least. We need to seriously waken up and start using our brains. Imagine watching the Derry game and STILL believing that our defensive tactics don't need altering. That's what we're dealing with here.

It's heartbreaking to see players in their prime like Donie, Begley, Timmons, O Loughlin etc treated like that. It's shameful. Give the lads a proper set up. Waken up or step aside.

[Giovanni]

The thing is that Dublin have had two All-Ireland winning managers in the last few years. Maybe they are both tactical geniuses and we are all clowns down here in the country. However, I don't see Dublin as being a defensive team and I haven't seen any particular evidence of a defensive blanket.

I think people are confusing defensive blankets with simple mobility. Dublin have loads of players who can get up and down the field, players who can turn quickly, who are very quick over 30 yards (including their corner backs). They won All-Irelands playing Cian O Sullivan at midfield. They have huge pace and mobility in their team - probably more than any other team (maybe bar Donegal). This is why they are ahead of everyone else.

That's the main way that the game has changed. I remember Pat Spillane regularly turning up in his own half back and full back line. That was in the late 70s! The difference now is that all 15 players (or as many as possible) have to put that work rate in. I'm not sure that our lads are up for that.

I also felt sorry for Timmons and Attride yesterday. The defensive problem is really much further out the pitch than that.

[OTF]

What in gods name is he on about.  Its like someone playing fantasy football. 15 on 15 has long since sailed.  It's laudable he wants to play 15 -15 but christ its dreaming.

It's not in the slightest bit laudable. It's laughable.
We are all entitled to our opinions on how a team should set up......but we are certainly not all entitled to a position as an IC manager.

To paraphrase a famous Tipp putdown; "I don't blame him at all, it's the fellas who gave him the job I blame!"


People here talking about John Sugrue being brought in? Was Sugrue not in contention for the job but didn't get it?!! Hard to know how you ask him in to pick the pieces up in April!

Keyser
I just read your post on the Hurling  am I correct in assuming that the hurlers have a fairly impressive backroom team ie. Cummins, Cunningham, AN OTHER from Waterford a S+C guy... all of the above are getting expenses for their contributions I assume.

Now on the other hand ML we are told  is a volunteer  and theres  no money to spare   bla bla bla. and the whole thing by all accounts is shambles.

Ok I don't want to be jumping to conclusions here but can someone that knows please clarify, is it the case of "the squeaky wheel getting greased" or WTF is going on.

[welcomehome]

i have been following laois for so many years..yesterday was the worst performance i have seen in a while..no leadership on the field..and they are certainly not fit....i felt gary walsh was in hard luck to be taken off yesterday..kingston should have went before him..he was terrible..contributed notin..he wasnt the only one..its going to be very hard to get out of division 3..i nearly would love wicklow to beat them to kilkenny and be destroyed..at this stage i dont no whats going tp happen....

[Tony]

Yeah, hoping Wicklow will beat us. Absolutely great first post there, welcomehome. Riviting stuff.

[welcomehome]

well tony what would u suggest..to go down to kilkenny and be destroyed..and thats what is going to happen the way that they are playing...